Alger deputy dismissed after assault

MARQUETTE-Alger County sheriff’s deputy Billy Carlson has been terminated from his position, after he was sentenced last week in connection with an alleged assault on a county jail inmate.

“Upon conclusion of the investigation and court proceedings, Deputy Carlson has been terminated from employment with the Alger County Sheriff’s Office,” Alger Sheriff Robert Hughes said in a statement released Wednesday.

Earlier this month, Carlson was sentenced to a year of probation, according to Hughes. Authorities would not release the specifics of Carlson’s sentence, however, claiming the information is “non-public.”

Carlson, 42, was charged with one count of assault and battery, a misdemeanor, and was scheduled to enter a plea May 16, according to court records.

He was accused of assaulting George Conrad-Spencer Young, a 54-year-old former Munising chiropractor, who is facing eight counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, using force or coercion.

Young’s accusers are former patients and the charges are related to alleged conduct during chiropractic visits. Young was an employee of the HealthQuest chiropractic clinic of Alger County.

Young’s defense attorney Brandon Rickard has said in the past that Carlson, of Munising, was the husband of an alleged victim.

Carlson allegedly assaulted Young when the latter was an inmate in the Alger County Jail in December.

Carlson had been on paid administrative leave since Hughes became aware of the accusations against the deputy in December. The sheriff said the termination letter wasn’t served until this week, as the department waited for the investigation to play out.

A special prosecutor and judge were appointed in Carlson’s Alger County District Court case. The case was prosecuted by Delta County Prosecutor Steve Parks. Marquette District Court Judge Dennis Girard presided, and a representative in his office confirmed Thursday that Girard had classified the court records as non-public.